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Amazon's Union Vote Shouldn't Worry Investors

Investors are impatiently wondering what might become of the union vote at one of Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) fulfillment centers.

According to re/code, up to 30 Amazon employees -- mostly equipment technicians and mechanics -- will vote on a proposal to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW).

The employees work at a warehouse in Delaware that serves as one of Amazon's many fulfillment centers. They are reportedly more concerned with vacation and promotion policies than the amount of money they are being paid.

These requests might seem reasonable to the average investor (particularly those who don't currently own Amazon). But the fear is that if one group of Amazon employees can join a union, others will follow.

In both cases, investors might not have anything to worry about.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter told Benzinga that it is "pretty irrelevant if there is a union in one location."

"They have over 100,000 employees, and unionizing 1,000 of them might raise costs on 1% of their workforce," Pachter told Benzinga via e-mail. "It's a rounding error."

With regard to a union's impact (and whether they are good or bad), Pachter said that it is "irrelevant to the stock."

"It won't spread to all Amazon facilities," he added.

Other Issues At Stake

The re/code report stated that, in addition to the primary issues (such as vacation and promotion policies), Amazon workers may also want to create a safety committee.

If true, it could be the result of a fatal accident that occurred on December 4, 2013.

According to AllThingsD, a man was killed after being crushed by a piece of equipment at an Amazon fulfillment center in Avenel, New Jersey. The man was an employee of Abacus, a temporary staffing firm that apparently hired the victim to work at Amazon.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.